The Vampires #2: Heroux and Odette

Chapter 2 (Odette): Late To The Meal

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

***TW for mention of abuse/physical appearance shaming***

From the diary of Odette Vautour, age 10

He talked to me again!!! I've seen him a couple of times since Basse pushed me down and Heroux helped me up. His eyes always smile at me for a second before he walks past me. But today, he actually talked to me. He told me I'd dropped a piece of paper and then he picked it up and handed it to me. It was my math homework. Basse would have ripped it up and thrown the pieces at me and then I would have gotten into bad trouble at school and home. But not Heroux. Now he's been nice to me TWO times. Two times in two years someone has been nice to me and that's probably why I think about him all the time. When my family isn't nice to me, I think about Heroux.

As early as I was up, I knew Heroux had already left the house, so I threw on some jeans and a sweater, tugged on my barn boots and ran downstairs.

"Good morning, Albertine!" I chirped to the woman in the kitchen. She returned my smile and inclined her head toward the bag she packed for me every morning.

"Thank you so much!" I called to her as I grabbed the tote bag and ran for the stables.

"Good morning, Fabrice!" I called out, and the older vampire popped his head up from inside one of the stalls. I swear the man slept in here with the horses.

"My lady," he said, and he gave me a brief smile. "I have Jeremiah ready for you. Just hitched him to your sulky."

"Thank you, Fabrice!" I waved my hand to him, determined to have a good day and to forget the misery of last night. Seeing my family and the scenes with Heroux had taken a bit of a toll, but I refused to let them ruin the beautiful day ahead of me. 

"I appreciate your kindness!"

That got me a nod, which, from Fabrice, was practically an entire conversation. Walking outside the stable doors, I went up to Jeremiah, a huge Percheron, and talked with him for a few minutes about where we were headed today and what we'd be doing. Then I gave him a carrot and an apple, and he nudged the tote bag I held because he knew I had more for him.

"Not yet, Mr. Greedy," I said, rubbing my nose against his. "Good things come to those who wait."

He was a horse; he didn't know that was a terrible lie. I clambered up into the sulky, took the reins and told him to go. Since I wanted to outrun last night, I clicked my tongue twice, giving him the signal to go fast and soon we were flying down the paths. I headed to my journal folly first, hoping to relieve some tension by writing out everything that had happened.

After spending an hour there, I went to my romance folly and pulled my Kindle out and read for more than an hour as Jeremiah nibbled on grass. From there, I stopped by one of the lakes, and walked around it, throwing some pellets to the fish as I meandered along the path. Then I went to my acting folly, and I played both Elizabeth Bennett, scornfully rejecting the pompous Mr. Darcy's insulting marriage proposal in a restrained yet oh-so-cutting manner, and Mr. Darcy, arrogantly trying to comprehend how someone as unworthy as Miss Bennett could not jump at the offer of marriage he'd made.

Then it was lunch time and Jeremiah and I headed for another lake, this one with the prettiest view, I thought, wildflowers all over the fields surrounding it, lily pads floating on the surface near the shore, egrets and herons scattered along the banks, waiting to spear a fish. I put down an old quilt and sat in the shade under the spreading branches of an oak tree after I'd unhitched Jeremiah and given him some more treats and some water.